Ambiguity
by Yannami
Summary: Rima was- without a doubt- afraid of the outcome. As the two men guided her past the plain halls, only one thing throbbed her mind: "Is he dead? Has that notorious thief actually been shot?"


Ambiguity

Rima hadn't expected this. How could she? Afterall, he was…sly! Perfect!

She tried to believe that he's not dead. However, the two policemen guiding her through the plain walls say otherwise.

"Why is the inspector calling for you, though? Have you seen the thief's face before?" the policeman at her right asked. Her muscles froze.

'Several times!' She thought. 'He's my best friend!'

To satisfy the policeman, she nodded her head. Right now, she didn't want to explain anything! What she wanted to do right now was to snuggle her face into the soft-scented coat he accidentally left with her one night; what she wanted to do right now was cry…

What she wanted the most was to see that the corpse that was to be presented to her was not Nagihiko…

"That thief…" The other cop muttered. "I can't believe that he's been shot! I bet that the very second that this girl-" he pat Rima's back, "-confirms the identity of the body, every cop in the country would break into a party!"

"I can't say the same thing about the inspector, though…" the first replied, almost sadly. "He saw the thief as a rival…"

There was silence.

"It's ironic, isn't it? How such a thief is loved…"

"Well, he is a gentleman"

That's when Rima realized that she couldn't take it. A tear slipped from her eyes.

"_You can cry if you want to, Rima-chan!" _Nagihiko had once told her. _"Don't be afraid to admit that you missed me!"_

More memories started flooding Rima's mind.

She had pulled his hair- a blush threatening to escape. _"Idiot! I won't cry- especially not over you!"_

When she let go, a typical smirk was on the boy's face. He tauntingly looked at her- a smug smile plastered across his face. _"Sure, sure, Rima-chan! I'm just saying that-"_

"_Shut up and die in a hole!"_

Another tear dropped. By then, Rima was attempting to cover the watery eyes with her golden bangs.

"Here we are!" The men beside her said in unison as they opened the metallic door. Rima felt her spines tingle as it creaked. Fear, perhaps, of what laid behind the door- a plain white room with a hospital bed in the middle. Atop the hospital bed was a body- the entire face was covered by a hanky and the rest of the body below the neck was covered by a plain white blanket. The very sight of it made Rima's knees dislocate.

"Take your time. It's a pretty morbid scene"

The girl sobbed at the statement.

"Don't scare her! She's only sixteen!" The man at her right scolded the other. They got into a heated argument yet their voices were droned out by Rima.

Everything in the four-walled room seemed to disappear from her line of vision- everything but the hospital bed standing before her- as if it was challenging her; taunting her if she was brave enough to look- to see if she was brave enough to see if he was dead or not.

One look would confirm it all.

One look…

Needless to say, Rima was desperate. She was hungry for relief. Although everyone says that there's no way that the thief could've survived the gunshot, there was still a spark of hope within her.

Slowly, she fumbled towards the bedside.

She shut her eye then gulped before- in one swift motion- pulled off the hanky covering the corpse's face.

Immediately, Rima screamed then fell to her knees, bursting into tears. Indeed, the face was a morphed, bloody mess. At the glance, she couldn't even identify the nose from the mouth- it's as if someone had shot the corpse's face with a shotgun multiple times!

She felt like the life had been pulled out of her; her eyes had gone dry.

One of the men knelt beside her.

"Don't Rush it" he said as an attempt to appease her only…it didn't. She desperately wanted to know the truth now- she was desperate.

Slowly, she unlocked her knees- sobbing as she stood up to scrutinize at the face.

Then, she squint her eyes.

Then, her eyes widened.

Suddenly, a soft chuckle escaped her lips. The policemen glanced at each other, wondering if the shot face was too much for the young blonde. For a moment, they feared that she was turning crazy.

"So…is it him?"

Rima's voice cracked. She turned to the man- her face still wet with tears. There was a few seconds of awkward silence before she spoke.

"I don't really know. The face is too morphed for me to determine who it is."

"B-but"

Rima held her hands up to stop him.

"You'll find out eventually. By the way, what happened to the gem that he failed to steal?"

"It's back in the museum"

A strange expression crossed the young blonde's face. Suddenly, she smiled then turned to her heels. "Okay, then! Bye-bye now! I gotta go!"

She left the two with mouths hanging agape.

When she was out of sight, she stopped, stretched then sighed.

"That boy…" with a small smile, she looked at the sky, wherein the sun was beginning to sink. Everything around her was a hue of orange- calm, sweet, comforting…

"-as tricky as always. I wonder where he ran off to this time…"


End file.
